THE HIDDEN AFRICANS OF IRAN: A FORGOTTEN DIASPORA WITH ROOTS IN MALAWI, MOZAMBIQUE AND TANZANIA.
Introduction
As the world watches the ongoing war in Iran unfold, much attention has focused on geopolitical rivalries, military strategy, and regional security. Yet behind these headlines lies another, largely untold story—one about a little-known community whose presence in Iran stretches back centuries. Along the southern shores of the Persian Gulf live Iranian citizens of African descent, the descendants of men, women, and children taken from the eastern and southern regions of Africa through the slave trade.
Concentrated in provinces such as Hormozgan, Bushehr, and Sistan-Baluchestan, these Afro-Iranians trace their ancestry to Bantu-speaking populations from areas that today include Tanzania, Mozambique, and Malawi. Their story forms part of a forgotten chapter of global history linking the East and Southern Africa to the Persian Gulf, where enslaved Africans were transported over many centuries through maritime trade networks connecting Africa to the Middle East
It is estimated that between 10 and 15 per cent of the population in parts of southern Iran may trace their lineage to African forebears. These communities are commonly referred to as Afro-Iranians, and their presence reflects centuries of interaction between Southern and East Africa with the Persian Gulf.
The Indian Ocean Slave Routes
The roots of Afro-Iranian communities lie in the East African Slave Trade. From as early as the eighth century until the nineteenth century, enslaved Africans were transported across the Indian Ocean to markets in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the Arabian Peninsula.
Many of those enslaved were Bantu-speaking peoples from Southeastern Africa, an area that today includes Tanzania, Mozambique, and Malawi. Arab and Swahili traders transported captives from inland regions to coastal trading centres such as Kilwa and Zanzibar, from where they were shipped to ports across the Indian Ocean.
By the nineteenth century, Zanzibar had emerged as one of the most important centres of the East African Slave Trade, functioning as a major redistribution hub. From this island entrepôt, enslaved Africans were exported to Oman, the Persian Gulf, and other parts of the Middle East.
Connections to the Interior of East and Southern Africa
Although slave markets were located along the East African coast, the people captured and transported through these networks often came from far inland. Long caravan routes connected coastal slave markets with interior regions surrounding Lake Malawi, northern Mozambique, and parts of present-day Tanzania.
Through these routes, captives taken hundreds of kilometres inland were marched to coastal ports before being transported across the Indian Ocean. The networks involved African intermediaries, Arab merchants, and Swahili trading communities who organised caravans transporting both ivory and enslaved people from the interior to the coast.
For populations living in areas historically known as Nyasaland (Malawi), Tanganyika (Tanzania), and Mozambique, this meant that individuals could be captured in the interior of Africa and eventually transported across the Indian Ocean to the Persian Gulf.
Slavery in Iran During the Qajar Period
By the nineteenth century, enslaved Africans had become a visible presence in parts of Persian society. During the Qajar dynasty (1789–1925), wealthy households frequently imported African women and children to perform domestic work.
Historical research indicates that many enslaved Africans in Iran during this period were women who served as domestic servants within elite households. Over time, some became integrated into local communities through marriage and social assimilation.
The importation of enslaved Africans began to decline in the mid-nineteenth century when European diplomatic pressure—particularly from Britain—pushed Persian authorities to restrict the slave trade. In 1848, Mohammad Shah Qajar issued a decree aimed at suppressing the maritime importation of slaves.
Cultural and Spiritual Legacies
Despite their marginalised position in many historical narratives, Africans and their descendants left a lasting imprint on the cultural and spiritual life of southern Iran.
One of the most striking examples is the Zār tradition, a spiritual healing practice involving spirit possession ceremonies. Zār rituals involve rhythmic drumming, chanting, and communal ceremonies intended to appease spirits believed to cause illness or psychological distress.
Scholars have traced elements of these rituals to spiritual traditions originating in the territories in East and Southern Africa, such as present day Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique. Over time, these practices blended with local Iranian traditions, creating a unique cultural synthesis within coastal communities.
African influence has also been noted in elements of music, dance, and ritual vocabulary associated with these ceremonies. Certain spiritual terms used in Zār rituals have linguistic connections to Swahili and other African languages in Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania, reflecting the deep historical interaction between Southern-East Africa and the Persian Gulf.
For instance, words such as pepe, maturi, and cinyase—used to refer to various spirits in Zār tradition—have etymological roots in African languages. For example, pepe and maturi are derived from Swahili, while cinyase originates from chiNyanja, a language spoken in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia.
Conclusion: A Shared but Forgotten History
For the people of Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania today, the story of Afro-Iranians carries a deeper resonance. The ancestors of many Afro-Iranians did not originate from distant or abstract places—they came from regions along the East African Coast and the hinterlands of East and Southern Africa, including areas around Lake Malawi and northern Mozambique, which were historically connected to coastal slave markets such as Zanzibar and Kilwa. From these ports, enslaved Africans were transported across the Indian Ocean to Arabia and the Persian Gulf through long-standing maritime trading networks.
When we watch the events unfolding in Iran today, it is therefore worth remembering that the country is not only part of Middle Eastern geopolitics; it is also part of a much older history linking Africa to the wider Indian Ocean world.
The presence of Afro-Iranians reminds us that the African diaspora extends far beyond the Atlantic world and includes communities whose ancestors were taken from the shores and hinterlands of East and Southern Africa centuries ago.
In a quiet but powerful way, the history of Afro-Iranians connects the villages of Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania; the coasts of Mozambique and Tanzania; the trading towns of Tanzania, and the ports of the Persian Gulf—a reminder that the histories of Africa and the Middle East have long been intertwined through the movements of people, culture, and memory.
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Sources
Mirzai, B. A. (2002). African Presence in Iran: Identity and its Reconstruction in the 19th and 20th Centuries.
Mirzai, B. A. (2014). Identity Transformations of African Communities in Iran. In The Persian Gulf in Modern Times: People, Ports, and History.
Campbell, G. (2003). The Structure of Slavery in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia.
Sharifian, H. (2024). Ugly Past/Insensitive Present: Blackface in Persian Popular Entertainment. Asian Theatre Journal.
Studies on the Indian Ocean slave trade, Zanzibar slave markets, and Zār spiritual traditions in the Persian Gulf.
# Lost History Foundation.